BASED ON THE YEAR SO FAR, HOW HAVE INNOVATION AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES AFFECTED YOUR BUSINESS?
Linh Le: In the healthcare space, our primary focus is the customer. Anytime this technology that can really facilitate that, enable that, or really drive that to be a very more efficient perspective, that's what we embrace. The turnaround time is a key operational factor, and with technology, it really enables that for us. You hear a lot of things about ChatGPT, AI, generative AI – right now, we're absolutely embracing that.
Ahmer Inam: In the pandemic and post-pandemic, there were a lot of fire drills trying to basically hold on to the business. Now, many of the CEOs are saying never again – we do not want to be surprised by any of the marketplace shifts anymore. So, can we harness essentially the power of AI and machine learning to essentially own our future instead of just continuously and constantly responding to the events of the past?
Belva Anakwenze: As it relates to operations in the entertainment industry, AI is a moving target. It's kind of wild, wild West right now. People are relying on ChatGPT and operationally, we see a change, but the key part for us is that there's so much of what we do that's interpersonal – it's about relationships, and it's about having oversight. We leverage technology, we leverage AI, but so much more is needed by humans to oversee it all.
WHAT SKILLS AND COMPETENCIES ARE NOW ESSENTIAL FOR CFOS TO EFFECTIVELY NAVIGATE THE INTEGRATION OF AI TECHNOLOGIES, AND HOW CAN THEY ACQUIRE OR DEVELOP THESE SKILLS?
Inam: We have to think about how AI can integrate into our business processes and transform and evolve it over time. Have a Chief AI Officer. A Chief AI Officer is not a CTO or CIO, It's somebody who is out there looking at all of the AI technologies that are coming up into the market, what's on the horizon, and how those technologies integrate with your specific problem set.
WHAT ARE WAYS YOUR CLIENTS ARE ADAPTING AND APPROACHING THE CHANGES BROUGHT ON BY AI?
Anakwenze: What I'm seeing from an AI perspective is that it is a tool: It should be used and it should be leveraged. We are doing that, but we are really spending our time on offering white-glove service to make ourselves relevant and important – this technology can do a lot of the backbone stuff, but what people need us for is for everything else.
WHAT IS A SPECIFIC TECH OR AI-DRIVEN SOLUTION THAT HAS HAD A SIGNIFICANT IMPACT ON IMPROVING PATIENT CARE OR OPERATIONAL PROCESSES?
Linh: We implemented a chat bot – It really works. It really does follow that 80/20 rule, where 80% of our customers' questions are the same. Through natural language, it really learned all the different questions. So when the patient calls, most of the time those questions are answered automatically 24/7.
HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR INDUSTRY CHANGING WITHIN THE NEXT 18 MONTHS?
Anakwenze: I think that AI learning is going to really help solve the need for very small companies or individuals who need basic accounting and CFO services. I think that's going to be great. The accounting industry is not “sexy,” and we're not getting a lot of people into the industry right now. And so there's a huge gap in terms of human capital and our time is very limited.
Ahmer: Over the next 18 to 36 months we're going to see two categories of companies evolving: those who have embraced AI and those who will be falling behind, essentially shutting shops down. It's due to the pace of innovation that is happening so rapidly.
Linh: If you regroup and think about all these new technologies, you no longer have to be the smartest person in the room. What that means is a shift to the “EQ” versus the IQ. So to CFOs out there, let's just make sure that we fall back and think about the emotional side of running a company.
